22 Another One?!

Neel followed the small stream and straight inside deeper as he could go on. After reaching the end of the stream, Neel stopped due to the rock wall blocking them. They couldn't follow the stream, but it didn't mean he didn't know the other way. Because there was three other cave inside, Neel enhanced his sight scent and without hesitated, turned to the right side.

Water drip sound was resounding through the area. It was dark and you couldn't even see your own shadow. Sarah was holding Neel's neck tightly on the back. He got annoyed and ask her to loosen up a little her grip and so she did what he told. She couldn't see anything and just trust Neel who lead the way. She closed her eyes and tried to divert her thought from the weird grunts around her. She didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

"Just talk and breath like usual, if you aren't too loud, 'they' will notice you," Neel told her soft as a whisper.

She responded weakly and shiveringly, "Who are 'they'? Are you sure we're on the right track? Why are you so slowly?"

Veined popped out from his head and answered irritatedly, "We are on the right way, trust me. 'They', well, you could say the demon who lives in this place, it's also the reason I slow down my pace. Do you want me to wake up them? Of course not, right?"

"Another one?! Again?!" She yelped a little and immediately shut closed her mouth, she continued with a low voice, "W-W-What kind of demon?" Sarah stuttered while asking him. Plop! Something fell down on her hair and shoulder. She didn't know what it was but the thing was started wiggling and crawling on her body. "N-Neel!" She shouted quite loud.

"Hush! No matter what it is on your body, hold on for a minute, don't speak loud, it'll be over soon." Neel sensed the familiar scent yet different from the black creature. It was the genuine demon just like him. There were four demons who lived in here. But, they weren't in the same race as him. He heard Sarah's voice muffling something. Neel finally noticed something fell on his tail and head. Centipedes. It wasn't a demon, it was just a normal one. Unfortunately, there was a lot of them attached to the rock ceiling above them. He tried to calm her down by saying, "Don't worry, they aren't poison. If they do, I'll just heal you once again."

"Mmm...Mmm...huhu...huhu..." She closed her mouth tightly and let her tears fell once again. The insect made her body tingling and it brought her the bad memory again. She felt disgusted and dirty. Her stomach squeezed up, she wanted to throw up, but there was nothing inside. In the end, she threw up a little water, but she swallowed it again. Tasting the bad taste, while holding her screaming, she begged him, "Neel, faster..." Neel began to quicken his pace as he followed the smell as usual.

Far from his sight, he could smell like fresh air. It was the outside, he thought. Just then when he finally reached his destination two hours passed by and it was the same time that Sarah already reached her limit as she kept shrieking and moving around on his body. Centipedes already covering almost their body and Sarah was freaking out madly. "Sarah!!" He shouted as he quickly leaned down to catch her body who was almost falling down.

"Get away! Get away! Get away!" She struggled to wipe away the insects on her body. Sh*t! He thought, if he used his power now, those demons would wake up. But, who was he kidding? It was already too late. Sarah's screams triggered those demons slumber and so without delaying further, he quickly used his power to erase the centipedes on their body.

His power was bright and it let the cave shines bright. It made her eyes visible to her surrounding. Sarah's screamed was lessen when the little centipedes were gone, but the next second, she screamed even louder than before. "A-A-A-AHHHHH!!" She subconsciously turned her head to the side and right beside them a giant red eye owl looking at her while curving his lips.

Neel noticed not only that one owl, but it looked his mates were here as well. Their strong presences circled them. Before he planned to attack, Neel quickly knocked down Sarah until she fainted. She fell unconscious and he caught her body. He changed to human form in an instant and carried her on his arms.

Why did he do that to Sarah? Well, it was due to her unpredictable power. It would be bad if her power revealed in front of these guys and losing control once again. He even bet himself that his surprise kiss wasn't going to work anymore.

One of the owls, with his yellow eyes, stared at Neel and the unconscious Sarah. He said with a low deep tone, "Ohh, look what we have here. A demon wolf and a human. What do you think, Preen?" He turned his head to his brother which had green sharp eyes.

Frowning, he showed a disgusted face, Preen commented, "You meant, half demon wolf, Claw. He smells like a human too, you know? He's not a genuine demon like us. Tsk! Brother Clicker, do you want to eat them?"

Drool came out from his peck, his red eyes were already targeting a certain woman. "Hmm, I don't know about that half demon. But, that woman is definitely good! Listen up guys, she's mine! Instead, I'll give him to you all!"

"Are you sure, Brother Clicker? You've been watching them for a while. You don't want to taste both of them? Just that woman?" Preen asked for his confirmation.

"No, thank you. You know that I have a stingy preference. I've already targeting her for a few days now. This time she finally comes here, so she'll be mine! Don't try to take her away from me! Or else, you know what happens." He carried a cold tone which made the two brothers shivered, except for his oldest brother. Quickly changed to sweet tone, he smiled to his oldest brother. "How about it Brother Pluck, are you okay with this?"

"..." Pluck didn't give a comment and continue to stare at Neel's face.

Nodding happily that his beloved eldest brother agreeing on his decision. He stated, "Then, it settled. Now, you can eat him however you like, but don't touch her. Understand?!" Clicker threatened his brothers with his madness eyes and high pitch tone.

Scoffing, Claw rolled his eyes to his unbelievable selfish brother. In the end, Claw and Preen nodded agreeing to him while Pluck just stayed silent.

Claw suddenly noticed something as he stretched his long neck to make a better look of Neel. "Pfft! Look, he's mad. Hmm... Eh? Is he blind?" Claw asked as he looked deep to Neel's eyes. Pulling back his long neck to his stay still body, he commented and laughed slightly. He happily shouted, "He is! Haha! Isn't this a perfect opportunity? Let's play with those two for a while before we eat them. What do you guys say?"

"Are you nuts?! Do you know how rare a human comes to our lair without notice now? We're hungry, It's a shame that we don't enjoy it quickly!" Clicker shouted at his brother and hated his type of lame gameplay.

"Tsk! Tsk! Brother Clicker, you don't get what Claw was trying to say? A meal tastes better when there's an excitement in the process." Preen elaborated Claw was trying to do. "Right, Brother Pluck?"

"..." Still staring at Neel.

Clicker made a bad mood expression and told Claw while grunting annoyingly, "What's your idea??"

Smirking from his victory for the first time, Claw suggested a game to them, "Cat catches a mouse. Cat and Mouse. In this case, we are the cat and they are the mouse. Let's make them trying to go out from here for five minutes. If they couldn't go out or finish around that time. Hehe, it's the end, game over." He turned his neck 360 degrees playfully as his eyes smiling to Neel.

Neel couldn't see their expression, but he recognized their heights which around 2.3 meters, each of them had different high and low voices.

Sighing, Neel felt stupid. Was it due to his power weakening, that he thought these owl demons were more superior than him? Neel spoke out with his firm and wise words, "I think it's better you stay away from me and this human. If you don't know who I am, then it's better you back down or else you know what will be the consequence I give you later in the future."

The three owls except for Pluck laughed mockingly. "Wahh~ I'm scared~" Claw mocked him. Preen burst of laugh again while Clicker smirking evilly. It looked like this wolf was pretty interesting for Clicker. He liked this wolf guts!

Preen stopped his laugh and turned to his brothers. "Brothers, can we just get over with? Now, let's play cat and mouse. Mousey, try your best to escape, okay?" Preen 'advised' and 'encouraged' Neel.

"You're going to regret this." Growling hard, Neel gave them the last warning as he prepared for a fight.

"Shut the crap, half! You'll see that you'll never escape from this nightmare place. The moment you see a slight light from afar. We'll be there blocking, capture and then make you our feast. Uh~ You really make me so hype. Hahaha, I think I want to take a bite of your body now." Clicker told Neel while his moist tongue licking his own peck.

Then, at last, their voices reached his ears. "Start. Now." They said together as their shadows disappear in a blink of eyes. Preparing to escape, Neel identified their scents which were still lingered around the area and probably watching him.

But, where on earth that last brother? Pluck who was staying quite all the time suddenly disappear from the three brothers without leaving a single his scent. It was quite strange that he didn't see Pluck's scent. Where was he? He asked confusingly. It made him worried about what will be happening.